Larry picked up his crankbait rod and cast a hand painted Bill Norman crankbait across the same point and was immediately hammered in shallow water. Another cast to the same spot produced his first fish of the evening. "It took a while, but these fish are finally starting to eat," said Hemphill. Unfortunately, it was nearly midnight and I had planned on being off the water an hour earlier considering it was a work night. "I guess we better give it another hour and see what happens," I replied.

It was the evening of October 23 and I was sharing the boat with well known big bass hunter Larry Hemphill of Yuba City. Fortunately, we had decided to fish the protected waters of Lake Amador rather than Clear Lake. Larry had plans to fish an afternoon trip at Amador that day, so we hit the water just after dark when he dropped his client off at the ramp.

"That wind was beating us up today, but it looks like it's finally starting to lay down," said Hemphill. "The bite sure was tough this afternoon, so hopefully these fish will be hungry tonight."

I loaded my gear into Larry's brand new Ranger boat and we idled out towards the dam to throw some crankbaits. The water temperature was surprisingly high for late October, hovering around 67 degrees. As we rounded the spillway area, I hit the two pounder on a crawdad colored Norman Deep Little N. I nailed a 14 incher on a Berkeley Power Worm about 15 minutes later, then the bite completely shut off.

Lake Amador largemouth continue to amaze me year after year. These fish seem to all be on the same time clock. The bite can go from wide open action to a complete shut down in a matter of minutes. Of course, it can also go the other way from a dead bite to red hot fishing. Maybe it has something to do with the relatively small size of the impoundment, but I have never experienced anything like it on other lakes.

So now we had a total of four fish in the boat and it looked like the bite was turning the corner. Hemphill maneuvered the boat down to the next point and we both were bit on our first casts with 10 inch Power Worms. Larry hooked another two pounder, but no one was home when I set the hook on mine. It was amazing that we had probably fished at least 20 points without a single bite, then we both get bit on two consecutive points.

We were now at the mouth of Rock Creek working the main point on the west side of the entrance. As I was shaking my Power Worm directly under the boat in 25 feet of water, I had a sudden thump and set into my third fish of the night. This was a little better quality fish, but still shy of three pounds. As I was admiring the healthy largemouth, Larry reared back into a fish that immediately broke water. "Better get the net for this one," he said. "It's not a monster, but it's pulling a lot harder than the other ones."

After several good runs, the fish finally tired along side the boat and I scooped it up in the net. The fish weighed in at 4 pounds, 2 ounces, not a big fish by Amador standards, but a quality fish in my book. After checking the clock, almost 12:30 now, we decided to give it another half hour down by the dam. Several trout plants in the last two weeks meant there would be a few big trout eaters in the area.

We fished the entire face of the dam and a couple points near the corner. Larry did manage to catch one more fish, another 2 pounder and we each missed a couple bites. Unfortunately, it was now after 1:00 am and I had to hit the road. We ended up with a total of 7 fish and probably missed another 10 to 12 bites.

The bite should continue to improve as water temperatures dip into the low 60's. October and November are prime months for night fishing Amador. Some of the largest fish of the year are caught in the fall and you will have the lake all to yourself at this time of year. I already have plans for another trip in early November.